


Baby Iwaoi Nightmares

by casper_the_friendly



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Child Iwaizumi Hajime, Child Oikawa Tooru, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 13:54:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10743033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casper_the_friendly/pseuds/casper_the_friendly
Summary: a short bit of tooth-rottingly fluffy emotional hurt/comfort iwaoi





	1. Chapter 1

He'd always done this, so it was only natural that he continue to do so even as they got older, even when he started school and was only allowed to have sleepovers on weekends. It was just that this time their parents didn’t know, and Tooru no longer screamed upon waking (he’d trained himself out of that) but instead crawled out his window and climbed up to Hajime’s. The first time it happened was the first time in a long while. They were twelve, and Tooru hadn’t been sleeping well for weeks. He’d finally reached his limit. He hesitated a few moments before rapping on his friend’s window.

“Ha-chan,” he whispered, knowing that even as he did so, there was no way Hajime would hear it. The knocking did the job, though.

“Tooru?” Hajime asked as he opened the window. “Are you o-“

He was cut off when Tooru suddenly launched himself on top of him. Hajime stumbled back until his knees hit the bed and he collapsed onto it. The collar of his shirt was growing warm and it was a little bit uncomfortable but he didn’t care at all because Tooru was crying. “What’s wrong, ‘Ru?” He asked quietly, his voice steady even though his mouth was dry out of fear that something really terrible had happened.

“Nightmare,” was the muffled response, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Tooru hiccuped and Hajime carded a soothing hand through his friend’s hair.

“Ah. It’s okay, Tooru, you’re safe now. Do you want to talk about it?” He felt Tooru’s head shake more than saw it, but it was enough. “Okay, well, if you want to, I’m here. For now you can just breathe.”

After about five minute, Tooru sat up with a sniffle. Hajime got up, too, and they crawled under the covers together.

“Don’t leave,” Tooru said suddenly.

“Never,” was Hajime’s immediate response. Then:

“Your dream…”

Tooru made a strangled noise.

“It was just a dream,” Hajime reminded him. “Not true.”

“I… I know. But it kind of… I mean. I’ll just. Explain what happened.”

“You don’t have to.”

Tooru shook his head and tangled his hands in the back of Hajime’s nightshirt. “It started out normal. We were playing at the park and my family and your family was there. But then I messed up, I did something wrong, I don’t remember what but it was something bad and I wasn’t a good enough kid and-“

“Ru,” Hajime said, turning to face Tooru because his breathing was quickening. He wrapped his arms around his friend and Tooru curled up to his chest. “Just a dream.”

A nod. Then Tooru, able to breathe normally once again, continued.

“Well, something bad happened, and it was my fault, and then everyone started leaving. And it as very lonely, and you were the last one to leave, but you left, too.”

“Never.”

“Never,” Tooru repeated as he drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

A year later and Hajime stopped even bothering to lock his window. They’d started playing volleyball, and suddenly Tooru was having nightmares every night. Some of them, Hajime knew, were the same type as usual, fueled by a fear of abandonment. Others, he realized when he heard Tooru mumbling “No, coach, I promise I’ll…!” and “sorry… lost cuz a me,” were about the same self blame but specific to causing problems for the team. After one particularly bad night, he suggested they quit.

“No!” Tooru refused immediately. “I just have to get better at playing! Then I’ll stop worrying.”

And then Hajime watched his friend work himself to the bone. But he also watched him improve by leaps and bounds, and, not wanting to be left behind, Hajime put in extra work and improved alongside him. Still, it didn’t go unnoticed that despite the ever-growing bags under his eyes, Tooru had stopped visiting Hajime.

“Do you think you’re a burden or something, stupid?” Hajime asked one day on their walk home from school. For a moment, Tooru’s face reflected surprise and open relieved. Then he plastered on a fake smile that gave Hajime goosebumps and made him irrationally angry, and shook his head.

“I just haven’t gotten nightmares in a long time, Ha-chan.”

Hajime knew that Tooru was a bad liar. He also knew that this was only true if Tooru thought he was lying, and that he could convince himself that anything near the truth was the whole truth.

“That’s probably because you aren’t even trying to sleep until you pass out,” Hajime mumbled.

“Aw, is Ha-chan worried about me? How sweet,” Tooru kept that stupid smile on his face. Hajime punched him in the arm and stuck his tongue out when Tooru whined.

“Remember this next time you try to lie to me,” Hajime growled. Tooru’s smile faded into something a bit more sad, and a bit more genuine.

“Thanks, Ha-chan, but I’m really okay.”

Hajime nodded, accepting the compromise, but wished more than anything that Tooru would stop lying to himself.

The next week, he got a call from Tooru’s mom.

“Hajime, I am so sorry to bother you this late, you must be-“

“What’s wrong?” He cut her off, sensing an almost panicky, frantic tone in her voice that made him more than a little uneasy. “Is Tooru okay?”

“I… I’m sure he’s fine,” she said, trying to calm Hajime, or herself, or both of them. “I just don’t know where he is. He’s not answering his phone and he didn’t tell me that he had any plans tonight. He’s been coming home later and later every day but this is just- ah, sorry for rambling. Is he with you?”

Hajime shook his head, even knowing she couldn’t see him. “No, sorry. I’ll go look for him.”

“Oh, no,” she protested, genuinely. “You really shouldn’t. You probably have to study, and I don’t want to inconvenience you over a bit of what is likely paranoia.”

Hajime frowned, and wondered if he was being paranoid too. The unsettled feeling in his gut said otherwise, though, and his gut had never been wrong about Tooru before, so he decided to go with it. He was putting his shoes on before he even completed the thought.

“Just for a little bit,” he assured Tooru’s mom. He added, just in case it helped at all, “I’m sure he’ll show up soon,” and then hung up.

He made it to the school in record time, and made a beeline for the gym. He was surprised when he didn’t hear the sounds of sneakers squeaking and volleyballs hitting the ground, but opened the double doors anyway. The lights were on. The volleyball net was up, there were volleyballs scattered around the room, and there was a single other person in the room.

There was Tooru, on the ground, shaking and curled into the fetal position. His face was wet, and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut. Hajime knelt by him and lifted his head gently. Upon finding no signs of injury on his head or anywhere else, he sighed. It could have been worse, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t furious with his friend. He crouched down beside him and placed a light hand on his shoulder. Tooru didn’t seem to notice, so he shook him a little bit. When he still didn’t wake up, Hajime considered using his old “plug his nose until he can’t breathe” trick, which was foolproof, but then Tooru suddenly relaxed, his nightmare having been chased away. Hajime couldn’t bring himself to wake his exhausted friend, now that he looked to be so at peace. He guessed that Tooru had completely worn himself out to the point where he didn’t have a choice in whether or not he was going to sleep. Judging by the volleyball Tooru was curled around, he’d been trying to play up until the time he passed out.

As Hajime was picking up the balls and putting the net away, he noticed that Tooru was smiling. He tried not to think about it too much and picked up his pace. When he was finished, he locked up the closet with the key that the coach let Tooru borrow because he gave him those puppy dog eyes that nobody except for Hajime can say no to, and then managed to someone get Tooru on his back. He grunted. His friend was pretty heavy. He was glad they lived close to school. Still, he made sure to lock up the gym and leave quickly.

When he reached his house, he debated going an extra twenty steps to Tooru’s place. Tooru’s mother would be furious at her son for overworking himself. Since Hajime was currently equally furious, he didn’t really mind that, but he also knew that Tooru’s mom had just gotten a new job and was under a lot of stress, and he knew this would only make things worse. He didn’t like seeing adults worry. So, after heading inside and dumping Tooru on the couch, he called her up and explained that Tooru had gotten carried away studying in the library.

“Oh, really? But I’m sure I checked there!” Mrs. Oikawa said, the relief in her voice entirely overwhelming the disbelief.

“Yeah, he was holed up in a little corner reading some book, so you probably just missed him,” Hajime lied. It was sort of a lame explanation, because Mrs. Oikawa had almost certainly been very thorough, but she just so glad to know that her son was safe that she didn’t question it.

“You must be right. Thank you so much for finding him, Hajime! I’ll be sure to scold him for putting you through so much trouble.”

Hajime laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about that, I can do that myself,” he smiled when he heard Mrs. Oikawa laugh, too, now much more carefree than earlier. “I was wondering if he could stay over tonight, though? I have some homework that I was hoping he could help me with to make up for being such a pain.”

“Oh, of course! Thank you again, Hajime, and have a good night!”

“Thanks, you too Mrs. Oikawa.” He hung up. Then he picked Tooru up and carried him up to his room bridal style before unceremoniously dumping him on the bed. Tooru opened his mouth and made a small, cute humming noise, but otherwise didn’t move at all, indicating just how exhausted he was. Then he started drooling.

“Ugh, gross,” Hajime muttered, but didn’t move to wake his friend or stop him. Instead, he showered, and then crawled in bed to join him.

In the morning, Hajime was glad to see that he woke up first. It meant Tooru hadn’t had any more trouble sleeping. He made breakfast, and was just finishing up when Tooru stumbled into the kitchen.

“’s that food, Ha-chan?” Hajime turned too see Tooru looking very much refreshed, and with impressive bed head at that.

“Mhm,” he turned back to the pancakes to drench them in syrup.

“Wait,” Tooru said, suddenly stopping in his tracks. “Why am I… Did we have a sleepover last night? Why don’t I remember it?”

Hajime snorted and searched inside himself for the anger he felt last night. Somehow he felt like the sight of a revived Tooru had squelched it somehow He scowled, more mad at himself now than anything. “Huh, I wonder why you wouldn’t remember, Trashykawa.” It was the first time he used that nickname, but it wouldn’t be the last.

“Ha-chan, so mean!” Tooru whined, and suddenly the image of him on the gym floor whimpering brought all of Hajime’s anger back.

“You’re an absolute idiot,” he said, his voice low. Tooru must have noticed, because he became quiet and more serious.

“Ha-chan?”

“I can’t freaking believe you,” Hajime fumed.

“Ha-chan, I really don’t remember…” Tooru trailed off.

“I remember. I remember walking in to the gym finding you whimpering and on the ground,” Hajime swallowed a lump in his throat because only now did he acknowledge how scary that was, and he couldn’t stop. “I remember thinking you’d hurt yourself. That you’d passed out and hit your head, and maybe got a concussion or brain damage, and then I was scared you’d hurt your ankle or knee practicing those stupid jump serves that you’ve been working on and-“

Tooru made a strange noise that sounded almost like crying. When Hajime looked up at him, his face was open and full of regret. “I’m sorry, Ha-chan. I didn’t- didn’t mean to get that tired, I just…” He said something under his breath that Hajime didn’t quite catch.

“What?”

“I just had trouble sleeping without you, okay?” Tooru’s voice came out loud, like he wanted it to sound angry, but it was mostly just raw and broken. Hajime’s anger broke down with it.

“I know,” he said quietly, pulling his friend into a hug. “I know, but there’s no reason you have to stop coming.”

Tooru nodded into Hajime’s neck and it tickled, but neither of them pulled back.

“You need to take more rest days,” Hajime murmured. “If you don’t, you’ll really… Get hurt.”

“But I have to get better.”

“You can’t get better if you get yourself hurt, dumbass,” Hajime looked into his eyes to make sure he was getting it. “And you’re already good. Those serves are pretty awesome.”

Tooru grinned. “I thought you said they were stupid?”

“I said you’re stupid,” Hajime retorted. Tooru looked offended, but wasn’t.

“How mean, Ha-chan!” Soon, they were both practically rolling on the floor with laughter, the stress form the past week and a half having finally left them alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed! and i'm so sorry if you didn't!  
> regardless, i'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below if you have a bit of time to type them up!


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